Specimen Days: Feburary Days

Well Walt certainly liked to loaf didn't he? And certainly the month of February should be the month of loafing. The bizarre mix of days that beckon you outdoors to enjoy the sun at its right temperatures, or keep you inside with the rain rapping its cold fingers upon your windows. Either way it is a month of beauty and transition and Whitman's entry shows us that this is so.

The power of his poetry comes from his loafing. Like the yellow sun to superman, the more loafing Whitman does, the more powerful his verse becomes. He is the king narrator of nature's splendor and not outdone by even Emerson or Thoreau. Leaves of Grass, the title itself even, is rife with metaphor and symbolism. Whether it be the plurality of the grass as it relates to humanity or the pages of the book representing the glory of Whitman's nature, it is charged with meaning. However perhaps a cigar is just a cigar and the title is simply to illustrated what inspired Whitman. We know he loafs and leans and observes spears of summer grass but in this specimen days we see how much he actually takes in nature and its beauty.

The hay from the barn has a perfume about it, the tendencies of humanity inspired by nature are vigorous and sweet, and Whitmans strength grows.

Whitman is a verse minded, peace loving Antaeus. He would invite you to wrestle, but only so that you could tug at his feet and beard. You often don't see many people appreciate nature the way Whitman does. He enjoys the weather regardless and even brings to his mind a letter by Robert Burns. We see Whitman even state that "I, too, like the rest, feel these modern tendencies (from all the prevailing intellections, literature and poems,) to turn everything to pathos, ennui, morbidity, dissatisfaction, death" but he does not allow this to stop him from enjoying what is around him and turning it into happiness.

The perfumes that crowd the houses and rooms may not be the odors that cover up the truth of nature but perhaps the intellectuality that keeps one from nature by using sight and ratiocination instead of touch, taste, smell, and feeling.

I think everyone probably needs to break out there inner Whitman now and again. When the summer comes iI know that Tamalpias will be calling my name.